Andrew Lundquist, a native Alaskan who worked on Capitol Hill for both his state's senators, shepherded the development of the administration's energy policy as executive director of the National Energy Policy Development Group, a Cabinet-level task force chosen by President Bush and headed by Cheney.

(Operative word in that last paragraph: Alaskan. Read on.)

When the task force completed its work, Lundquist stayed on at the White House as Cheney's energy policy director, leading the vice president's effort to turn the task force's work into law.

Then, a day after leaving government service, he opened a consulting business. Nine months later, Lundquist was a registered lobbyist for companies that stood to benefit from the energy policy he helped craft, according to 2003 lobby disclosure records reviewed by the Globe.

(Didn't waste any time, did he? And now he's making some big $. Big $...from some of the following "environmental companies." )

Japan's Toshiba Corp., which is seeking to build a small, new-generation nuclear reactor in ALASKA and would benefit from the administration's proposed extension of laws reducing corporate liability for injuries or death caused by nuclear accidents.

British Petroleum, which stands to benefit from a $16.3 billion ALASKAN natural gas pipeline that was promised government loan guarantees worth $2 billion in the pending energy legislation.

Kennecott Energy Co., a coal-mining concern in WYOMING (ie, Cheneyland) that would benefit from a plan to loosen proposed mercury pollution rules for coal-fired power plants.

(Alright. Do we need to break this down? Decades ago, men like our beloved VP "got into politics" because it was a great way to figure out where "the newfangled superhighways were gonna get built." Then, all you had to do was buy land along those proposed routes, and BLAMMO! you made tons of cash developing Taco Bell/KFC/BK/Chevron-cities with a quasi-biblical names. But that's nothing compared to what these dudes are doin' today. Nothing. These guys are developing entire states. And countries! The slick thing is...the man has been doing this since he dropped out of Yale in the early sixties. Jumping back and forth between the public and private sector, dismantling industrial regulation and privatizing utilities and the miltary and everything else that needs privatizing. And PROFITING big time. Why else would he bother to return to public service after a couple of heart attacks? Setting it up...for the immediate future. And many smart people, such as Andrew Lundquist, are following his lead.)